


The Sniffles

by TabithaHallows



Series: Of Hidden Knives and Suits and Ties [6]
Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, M/M, Modern Assassins, One Shot, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:27:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28284726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TabithaHallows/pseuds/TabithaHallows
Summary: Forced to take a sick day, Gakushuu is miserable. Good thing Karma was around to help. Or just be annoying. It's actually hard to tell why he's here.
Relationships: Akabane Karma & Asano Gakushuu, Akabane Karma/Asano Gakushuu
Series: Of Hidden Knives and Suits and Ties [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981714
Comments: 3
Kudos: 69





	The Sniffles

Gakushuu felt miserable. He was miserable. His throat was dry, his head ached and his nose would not stop dripping. He'd worked his whole life to have an impeccable immune system and he'd still somehow managed to get sick. 

Not that it had been his fault one of the new interns had come to work with a raging cold. Half of the office would be down for the count for the next two to three days as well. But Gakushuu wasn't like the rest of the office. He should have been able to fight the virus off without even noticing it and that just threw a layer of irritation over his misery. 

His father had called him twice already that day, no doubt to gloat, the bastard. Not that Gakushuu could be sure that was his reason, he had been ignoring his calls after all. He would have heard through his many nefarious connections that Gakushuu had called in sick and unlike most fathers would never call to check up on a simple cold. No. It was just to rub it in his face that he had gotten sick while the great and amazing Gakuho Asano hadn't had so much as a stuffy nose since he was five. 

Gakushuu rolled over so he would be facing the back of the couch, pulling the blanket up to his chin. He was determined to get over this by tomorrow at the latest so he could get back to work as soon as possible. Once he was past the worst of it than he could start getting things back to the way they should have been. And that was not with him laid up on the couch in the dark feeling like he was two inches from death. 

"Ah, here you are. Oh, wow. You look like hell!"

As it turns out, he kind of was.

Gakushuu groaned and pulled the blanket up higher. He was not in the mood for Karma's crap today. Not while he was busy being sweaty and fatigued. 

"Just a joke, just a joke." 

Gakushuu kept his eyes shut but felt Karma perch himself on the edge of the couch by his legs.

"Alright, maybe not a complete joke. Who'd have thought even Gakushuu Asano himself gets sick?"

"Karma?" Gakushuu's voice was dry and crackled with every word.

"Yes?"

"Please, shut up. I have a headache that could kill a bear."

There was a fleeting moment of silence and he felt Karma shifting again and hand pressed to his forehead.

He couldn't help but open his eyes to shoot the other man a narrowed, watery glare. 

"You taken anything for it?" Karma asked, paying no mind to the stare.

"I don't need anything except sleep and peace and quiet." Gakushuu huffed, closing his eyes again.

Karma snorted at that.

"You're still human, you know. How are you going to fall asleep with a headache that could apparently put a bear six foot under?" 

"Go away and I'll find out."

"And leave you like this? Never." Karma stood and Gakushuu could hear that damned smirk from a mile away. "I'll be right back. Don't die while I'm gone."

"What?" Gakushuu frowned but by the time he had opened his eyes again and looked over his shoulder, Karma was gone. 

Great. Because Karma coming back to annoy him was just what he wanted. If he'd had the energy he would have done something to stop him but he was flat out just reaching for a tissue. So, with another grumble, he tucked himself in further and hoped to be asleep before Karma returned in a bid to avoid dealing with him. 

There was something about feeling like death that made the day go by so painfully slowly. Every ten minutes felt like thirty and every hour felt like three. Because of that, he couldn't tell how long Karma was gone for but whatever length of time it had been, had not been sufficient enough for him to fall asleep. 

He heard the rustle of a plastic bag and sighed, turning on to his back.

"Those are killing the planet, you know."

"It's reusable." Karma tapped the eco-friendly logo on the bag proudly and set it down on the coffee table. He started to empty the contents. 

Two bottles of water, a juice box, a tub of ice cream, a roll of throat lozenges, a packet of aspirin, and a box of strawberry flavoured pocky. 

"You got me junk food?" Gakushuu arched a brow.

"As if. That's mine." Karma snatched up the pocky protectively.

"You're a child."

"Your nose is running, Gakushuu."

Gakushuu growled at him and reached for another tissue from the side table just above his head at the end of the couch. Before he could pull one out, Karma had already gotten up, taken one and was offering it to him.

"I can manage a tissue, Karma." Said Gakushuu, although he took it anyway.

"Who knew you were such a baby when you got sick?" Karma snickered like he was enjoying this. He probably was, the sicko.

"I am a fully grown man." 

"Well, fully grown man. Take these." Karma shoved the box of aspirin and a bottle of water at Gakushuu. "Even you might be able to sleep."

"What are you? My nursemaid?"

"Nope. But don't you think I'd look great one of those cute uniform's?" 

Gakushuu didn't dare answer that and simply snatched up the aspirin and water bottle. 

Karma disappeared into the kitchen for a moment with the ice cream and reappeared just as quickly without it. He took a seat down the other end of the couch, just out of reach of Gakushuu's feet. He kicked off his shoes and tore into the pocky. 

Gakushuu had noticed over the years that Karma favoured strawberry flavoured food and drinks, although he had never commented on it. It was one thing to be observant to the relevant facts, it was another to take note of someone's eating habits and then make it known to the very same person that he had done such. 

He took the aspirin and knocked it back with the water begrudgingly. Sleep did sound nice right about now and he might have gotten some if Karma wasn't watching him so intently.

"What are you looking at?"

"Your face is red."

"I'm sick. That's not exactly out of the ordinary." Gakushuu rolled his eyes and shifted to sit upright, his back against the armrest.

"You should have the juice too."

"I'm fine."

"You just said you were sick."

"I don't need the juice." Gakushuu sighed. "Look. Thank you, but this is all completely unnecessary and unwanted. You should get along before you end up sick too. Your targets aren't going to kill themselves, you know." 

"Eh." Karma shrugged. "You'd be surprised."

He had totally ignored Gakushuu's telling him to leave like he hadn't even heard it. Instead, he just pulled his legs up onto the couch and crossed them. 

They passed the next ten minutes in silence. Gakushuu was resigned to the fact that Karma wasn't leaving at any time earlier than he wished too and he was hardly going to let that stop him from trying to stop.

But damn if all his trying seemed pointless. 

His headache had even faded substantially and his throat didn't feel so dry after he'd begrudgingly had a sip of the juice. Apparently, even Karma's efforts weren't enough. 

Gakushuu growled under his breath and forced himself to sit up.

"You're supposed to be-"

"If I could sleep, I would." Gakushuu cut Karma off tersely. 

"Okay, okay. Calm down Mr Melodrama." 

"You are not helping."

Karma grinned at that.

"Ever considers that I'm just here to make things worse?"

"That might have crossed my mind, yes."

"Oh, you get me, Gakushuu, you truly do." Karma batted his lashes at him.

Gakushuu kicked at his thigh weakly with a steely glare. 

"Don't be such a prude, darling."

"Don't call me darling."

"And what are you going to do about it?" 

Gakushuu frowned deeply. Then he reached out and grabbing the front of Karma's shirt, pulling him closer.

"Is this the part where we kiss?" Karma pursed his lips.

Gakushuu yanked him closer still, until they were almost nose to nose.

"This is the part where I make you sick and then get to watch you suffer."

"Maybe it would be worth it." Karma's eyes flicked down to his lips.

Gakushuu groaned as a sudden dizzy spell washed over him, letting go of Karma to clutch at his head.

"Hey, you okay?" Karma's brow creased in concern. 

"I'm fine...just..."

"Lay back down." Karma tutted. "We can leave the steamy make-out session for later."

Gakushuu groaned again and did as he was told, too disoriented to argue. 

"This fucking sucks." He cured.

Karma chuckled under his breath and then shifted as well. He laid himself down next to Gakushuu on the edge of the couch, lying on his side.

"What are you doing?" Gakushuu glared weakly.

It wasn't entirely strange for them to lay beside one another as Karma had snuck into his bed multiple times over the years, but was he really not concerned about getting sick himself. 

"Turn around. I'm the big spoon."

"We both know that's a lie, Karma."

"Fine then. Don't turn around. We can just stare at each other until you fall asleep."

"Freak."

Karma flashed his teeth wolfishly. 

"That was not a compliment."

"That's funny, because it felt like one."

"There's nothing funny about this."

"I could make it funny. Want to hear a joke?"

"No." Gakushuu replied firmly and turned to face the back of the couch in further refusal.

"Killjoy."

"I believe killing is your department."

Karma laughed and Gakushuu could feel the vibrations in his chest.

"I thought you said no jokes?"

"I said you couldn't make any jokes."

"That's not fair."

"I wasn't trying to be so."

Karma didn't reply, probably pouting Gakushuu assumed. They laid there for another ten minutes, still and quiet, the only sound to be heard was their steady breaths. Their combined body heats were a little to warm and yet Gakushuu found that he didn't want to move. He told himself that he had been sapped of his strength to do so, although he knew it wasn't entirely true. 

When he spoke next, he had been well on his way to falling asleep, but a damned question had popped into his head. Usually, it was a question he would have never asked. He would have labelled it pointless. A waste of time of energy. Not to mention something they simply didn't do and hadn't done in all the three years they had known each other. But something in this moment, in this fuzzy, too warm moment poked and prodded at him until he opened his mouth. 

"Karma."

"What is it?" He sounded as though he was still completely awake.

"If you wanted to leave your current life, live a more ordinary one, would that be possible? Or will you be doing this until the day one of your targets fights back harder than you can handle?"

"Please." Karma scoffed. "As if. But to answer your question...it wouldn't be easy. I've been at this for a long time. Not as long as some others mind you, but long enough. I have very few connections to the 'ordinary' world left."

"So, you couldn't do it?"

"I never said that. It has been done before, but like I said it isn't easy. Creating a whole new identity wouldn't even be the hard part. It would be keeping that identity. Once you're in the business you're linked to if for life. Unless you somehow kill anyone who ever met you, which would probably be more trouble than it's worth. People talk as well. Just because they haven't met you doesn't mean they don't know you by name or reputation. I say the chances of being dragged back in are pretty high." 

"Sounds like you think it's not worth it."

"Not to me. Not right now."

"So...would you ever?"

There was a long pause and Gakushuu thought that maybe he had pushed too far. This was already the most he'd ever asked about Karma's work and the world he moved it. Maybe this was just too much. But then Karma answered, voice so soft he could hardly hear it.

"I don't know."

Gakushuu didn't reply. He didn't even know how to. His chest ached like it was trapped in a vice. Because he was sick he supposed. What other reason could there be?

He really should have been asleep. Yes. 

That's what he needed. 

Sleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> Sup, losers! Jk. If anyone is a loser it's me for disappearing for two months. Yeah, lol. Basically, I just got super busy with another project that does, unfortunately, take precedence over this one. Anyway, hope you enjoyed what is actually my first ever sick fic!
> 
> Oh! And MERRY CHRISTMAS!!


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